No witty title for this one

I am a mess. I'm not that happy Christmas kinda mess I normally am this time of year, but the  oh, crap, I forgot to buy presents, bake cookies and mail cards kinda mess. My intestines, I am told, are fabulous. That's what happens when you have surgery in the middle of December.

I've been scrapping to get into the holiday spirit. (It would really help if it wasn't 60 plus degrees outside. I feel like I need to turn on the air conditioning!) Here's a little card for everyone:

Those are my two special guys in front of the tree. The picture was taken pre-invasive-hernia-surgery. I'm glad we decorated the house before I had the procedure because it wouldn't have happened otherwise. Aren't they handsome?

Every year I take pictures of the kid in front of the tree once we are done decorating. I have nine years of a boy in his underpants, so this year was incredibly special. See that? He's wearing clothes! The best part? I didn't have to ask him, beg him, fuss with him or even prompt him. The idea of taking a picture not half naked was his very own idea!! Progress. The autsim gods are smiling upon us at the moment.

The kit I used to make this festive piece is very special. Actually, it's a kit that made me misty-eyed to be candid. There is a Danish scrap designer whose blog I frequent. Being that my mom is directly from Denmark, I'm always thrilled to run into a Dane. Designers come in all flavors from Brazilian to French, but this is the first Dane designer I've ever seen. Naturally when I think of Denmark, I feel all nostalgic, warm and fuzzy inside that makes me feel almost home-sick for some reason. Maybe because I've always enjoyed my time there and want so badly to go back. (I also get hungry-- Danish food is soooo yummy. And no, they don't eat danishes, but there hot dogs rock.)

I posted on her blog-- Nothing But Freebies -- a couple of weeks ago. The other day, I had a comment in my inbox (on another blog). She made me a Danish Christmas themed kit!! It was just about the nicest thing a stranger has done for me in as long as I can remember. Here's what she posted:

The freebie I offer today is a special freebie. It is of course for all of you but it was inspired by a comment I got the other day from Carrie from Delaware and is therefore made especially for and dedicated to her and her mother from Aalborg in northern Jutland, Denmark. The freebie contains a lot of stuff associated with a good, old fashioned, Danish Christmas. I have also included a text that means a lot to all Danes around Christmas. It is an extraction from the Book "Peter's Christmas" written in 1870 and still known to all children in Denmark. I have used the fantastic illustration from the book to make a few elements for the kit. Finally, I have helped all you non-Danish speaking friends around the world by including a small word list giving you a few of the Danish Christmas words in English.

Isn't that so sweet!! Here's the kit:

Check out the whole post and grab the kit while you can!

Isn't it lovely? All the items are familiar to me... and make me wish my mom wasn't a thousand miles a way...

I will be attempting the woven hearts tomorrow, which are ornaments made from construction paper or card stock that form little heart shaped baskets. You fill the baskets with goodies and hang them from the tree. I've  never been good at making these, but I'd love to master it enough to help the kid make some so he can learn to do something Danes do.


I am just so touched! What a nice reminder of the holiday spirit. Thank you, Trinne!!


Even if this holiday has been side track by my ovaries and small intestines and even though I'm mess... and even though my house looks like a tornado hit it, I think its going to be a very memorable Christmas! 

Now I'm gonna wipe the sweat off myself, open a window and try to get some sleep...

Holiday Scrap

I have spent a relaxing evening scrapping while the hubby took care of dinner. I used a photo my sis in law took of my inlaws on Thanksgiving. I used Shabby Princess's Harvest. Plentiful and Dinner Party kids (all are free to download).

I also made a Christmas background for my computer using a kit I fell in love with from Natlai Design:

Happy Scrapping, everyone!

Summer Scrap

This page was made with Peppermint Creative's Sunkissed Summer kit. It's a page of my oldest sister, Mette, when she visited the beach. I plan on doing a second page of her, so this is my "start page". Enjoy!!

Another Digi Scrap Page

This one is of my niece, Chrissa. An interesting tid-bit: I came up with her name. Her dad wanted to name her Christina, her mom (my sister) didn't care for that. One day, I was playing with that flubby little baby-lady. I was kinda putting her upside down and right side up again while saying "Chris" on the down motion and "uh" when coming up. It came out 'Chriiss-ssaaaa' in my teen-aunt silly voice.

Her mom walked in one me, heard my gross exaggeration on the name Chris, looked at me and exclaimed "That's it!". I had no idea what she was talking about. "Chrissa.", she said, "That's the name". Both parents agreed that my silliness settled the name argument. That's when I learned that a little silliness can go a long way.

In this page, I used Delicious Scrap's Spring Collection of Mini Kits (there's a 99 cent sale going on their store right now, so if you have the cash, I say go for it) along with Shabby Princess' Promise kit. Shabby Princess is another one of my favorite group of designers. I would love to one day actually buy a whole kit, but for now, it's freebies for me.

I'm trying very hard to limit myself to one or two kits with these pages in order to self edit and remember who I need to credit since I use freebies. Also, I'm trying to hone the skills I remember. I need to find a good tutorial group again. The goal is to one be able to print out these pages and put them into a book. One day...

Here is the end result:

Girlie Scrap

I spent most of the day trying to put together a digi scrap page of my niece. Her mom took this great picture of her at the beach where she looks like a movie star. I have been dying to use the photo in a scrap page. I love the colors-- pinks!! Having a boy, I don't use a lot of pinks...

Turns out I have a lot of trouble coming up with a layout. I wanted to use everything pink and beach themed... turns out there aren't a lot of pink beach themes on my computer. I have so many kits, I was hoping to use just one designer's kit... or do a challenge. I struggled with this page, but finally realized I didn't have one kit to fit this... and self-editing was a huge problem because I wanted to use EVERY kit I had...

My husband kept telling me things looked good. Poor guy was befuddled when I'd tell him he was wrong. He likes everything I do, so if I'd smeared poop on the monitor he'd tell me it was a work of art. 

In the end, I used papers and elements from Delicious Scraps (various collections-- they are all so good! Most of my fave kits are from DS) along with elements from Stacey's Scraps (the pink frame with green bow, which set my color scheme basically was from her "Longing For Summer" kit). I also used Shannon Fahrnbach's Too Hot to Handle elements (the glitter sun and wire-flower-sun center piece) along with Alphas. The alphas had this great texture to them, but when I recolored it pink, I messed up somewhere. Oh well, I figure it was just meant to be. I believe I got that kit from digiscrap central..I'll have to check that. I am happy with the overall outcome:

 

More Scrappy Stuff

Here's page a made using various kits, mostly from Delicious Scraps older freebies (I have to go through my files to see what exactly I've used). These pictures are from my parents wedding way back when. They are coming up on an anniversary in September. I think it's their 40th... think, but I'm not sure... I do know they've been married more than 35 years. Here's my creation:

Okay, I'm adding a beach themed page I made with In the Sandbox by Keep in Touch Design. I'd love to give you a link, but I can't seem to find it. I search out so many freebies at a time that unless the designer has their web address in their Terms of Use or included elsewhere in their kits, I can't ever find them again. In this case, I did find the designer in a store HERE. I can't afford to buy these kits, thus the freebie I used:

I may have found this kit in a challenge board somewhere, but rarely do I ever have time to meet the deadlines. I just grab the kits. I guess I should pay more attention, huh? Or have a less busy life? Both, I'm sure.

I'm still getting the hang of PSP X3, but if you notice in the above, I actually cropped photo into a clam shell shape. Yay me!! In this case, I pasted a clam shell from the kit onto a new layer in the photo I was working with. Then I used the magic wand to select the outline of said shell. I deleted the clam shell layer, inverted the selection and hit crtl+c to copy. Finally, I hit ctrl+v to paste as a new layer- viola! I'm so proud of myself, but I'll probably cuss at my computer the next time I try this. haha.

Scrapping Day

I was searching an searching yesterday for a boy scrap kit. There are a ton of kits for little boys, baby boys and let's not even talk about all the girlie kits! Yet there is a lack of kids suitable for the photos I have of my pre-teen kid. Finally I stumbled upon Kelly Jo's Scraps who has an amble selection of freebie kits for scrappers just like me-- a mom to a boy! Using one of her kits, I was able to come up with this:

Being very out of practice, I was proud of myself in creating this. I have a ton of other things I want to to try and tutorials bookmarked. One day, I'll get to them all... one day.